Fated

Chapter Six

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As much as Ikol tried to struggle against whatever Aaron was using to hold him back, he failed to break free while breathing deeply from fatigue, lying on the ground once the elf somehow transferred him towards the main area where all the other elves lived. It was very late at night so he more or less expected that no one but them were present.

His jade eyes wandered around, amazed at seeing lights coming from inside many of the largest trees he’d ever seen before him, knowing that these…elves…lived within them. Trees as tall and wide as any castle, reaching endlessly to the sky above where the leaves spread magnificently and glittered like the missing stars which where covered by the leaves alone. Branches curled and gripped as if supporting the others like bridges, wrapping around the trees for a long smooth path.

Then a headache started in his mind, shutting his eyes tightly to reduce the pain. With everything happening so quickly and unexpectedly, he was surprised to even last this long without going crazy! Though he wondered what happened to both Runa and Eir…

“You have a question for me?” Aaron asked him kindly, sitting down beside his lying form.

Ikol grumbled, wanting to ask of the girl’s condition but decided to keep silent, wondering if the girls were not caught yet and thinking of a plan to save him. He mentally gave a cry, hoping they are going to save him!

Aaron placed his chin on bended knees cutely, looking at him more closely. “What is your question? I will answer it for you the best I can.”

“You sure are nice to an enemy…still a kid, huh?” Ikol snorted, looking away, “Me…caught by a mere kid…”

“Kid?” the elf gave a laugh, “I’m afraid the one who is the kid is you!”

“What…?”

“How old are you?”

Ikol stared at him in disbelief, wondering how this conversation was made up between them for they shouldn’t be talking at all! “Seventeen…”

The elf is now pounding his fist on the ground, clutching his stomach hard while wiping the laughing tears away from his eyes. “I’m older than you by twice your age!”

If Ikol was standing, his jas would have met the floor by now, eyes bugging out from his skull. Completely speechless, he can only sputter out, “But…ah…huh?!”

“I’m a bit…slow with the growth,” he admitted sheepishly without facing him, though Ikol somehow knew there was something more behind his words, “And we elves live longer than the humans; it’s not so surprising, really.”

“To you it might not be but…”

Aaron looked at him closely with a smile. “You know…you’re not anything like I expected…”

Looking into the elf’s eyes closely, Ikol’s own slightly narrowed. Though this elf had admitted he’s way older and more likely wiser, Ikol was sharper. He knew Aaron meant as the ‘Chosen One’ from how he reacted from those words, but knowing because of his reaction to it, he wisely choose not to say it out directly.

“Lord Freyr will still come for you,” Aaron’s spoke silently, staring up at the star-filled sky, “It won’t take him long…Alfheim is right below Asgard after all.”

Ikol’s jaws tightened. “How did you send word to him?”

“Remember the dove when you woke up?” he smiled, “I created that dove to send my words since everyone here was asleep from the exhaustion of the gathering.”

“Created?!”

Aaron silently took out a glowing string from the sash, caressing it. “Everyone…but there is one that had not attended…as much as I want her to come. I haven’t seen her in such a long time…”

Ikol snorted, having no interest.

“I haven’t seen her since the day I got news of a prophecy.” The elf silently glanced at him. “A prophecy about the possible ending of the universe is going to take place sooner then expected…”

So Aaron was kind enough not to mention the words he hated with a passion, but giving off hints is obviously going a bit overboard. Ikol glared at him. “And you’re blaming it on me because of a girl you didn’t see?”

“No…of all the things I can blame it on, I’m blaming it on myself…”

Ikol stared at him wordlessly.

“Because I had done something unforgivable…and I’m still just a child to her probably…” Aaron’s gaze on the glowing string saddened, “Though mentally, I may be different and the leader of the elves, but apparently she is still older than me by a few years…”

Leader of the elves?! Ikol double blinked and suddenly felt bothered by his expression that doesn’t seem to fit on his face. “What’s with the string?”

“It’s my power,” Aaron silently answered without much care, “I’ve saved this for her…once you touch it, you’ll feel clear-minded and all your troubles will be temporarily forgotten for a moment. You’ll relax easily with this and can accept all your hardship…”

“All from your powers?”

“I had made sure hers would be the brightest…”

“Why not give it to her?”

“I don’t know where she lives. She doesn’t live with the crowd and doesn’t come here often. I can be a bit useless even as a leader,” Aaron lightly chuckled, putting it away gently, “Besides, today I had decided to search for her but was immediately interrupted by a body dropped right on top of me.”

“That stopped you?”

The elf gave him a strange look. “The body happened to be yours…”

Ikol cringed.

“I wonder what’s keeping Lord Freyr so long,” he muttered to himself, looking up at the sky vaguely, “It shouldn’t take him this long…”

Again, anger rose inside him.

“It would be a lie if I said I want to see you gone. I actually enjoy your company.” Ikol tensed, slowly lifting his eyes up to him as he continued with a mere smile, “Strange…me, enjoy talking to an enemy? But it’s because of what you’re named as that we’re enemies…not for who you are.”

He grumbled to himself, “Should I be saying the same thing?”

Aaron’s eyes brightened briefly when hearing his soft words, wrapping his small arms around his bended knees. “I will wait here with you…Rest if you must. You may need loads of energy when facing the Allfather.”

“Rest…I don’t know what you tied me with since I can’t see it, but how can I rest lying like this?!”

The elf inwardly glanced to the side of the dark forest sagely. “Anyway you possibly can…”

“HOW?!”

=:*:=

Hidden in the forest, Falila sat there silently as if her body was completely frozen, her eyes staring even though they looked blank; like someone sleeping soundly with them open. In her hands she gently trapped the dove she managed to catch; the one that Aaron had sent. She stared at it lethargically. “…If this bird was real…I could have an early breakfast by morning…”

Gradually, she watched the two males until her gaze held onto Aaron’s unmoving form. Until the morning will it be your last glimpse of me…a glimpse that you will never want to see again…

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The skies cleared as the sun set high in the horizon, casting its radiant light over the land that had been washed over by the night sky. It shimmered brightly through the window, burning through the eyelids of the physician goddess of Asgard who slowly woke up from her slumber. Sitting up, she noticed that the seid was slowly awaking also, both of them rubbing the sleep away from their eyes before glancing at another figure kneeling in front of them drinking tea.

“Awake at last?” Falila asked them softly, sipping her tea, though her eyes pointed to the extra two filled cups in front of her, “I’ve been waiting for a while now…”

Even Runa notice a sudden change of attitude, finding it hard to imagine an elf girl like her who was talking so normally could be acting like the one from the night before. Runa frowned, grabbing the cup and testing her powers as the tea bubbled, clearing away anything suspicious that she might’ve put in for ‘fun’.

Falila gave a small smile. “Don’t trust me yet?”

“Hell no.”

“Falila,” Eir began, grabbing the cup and examining it with expert eyes before drinking, “Can you explain it to us now?”

“I thought I answered most of the questions already,” she replied, placing the cup down, “Its morning now; we should be able to save Ikol since none of the Gods have caught him yet. If we don’t get him soon though, then I’m afraid Odin will find him…if not, then at least one of his ravens that usually flies through all of the nine worlds for a check-up will.”

“I’m not talking about that…” Eir trailed off, “I’m talking about last night…”

Falila’s lids lowered. “I apologize for my behavior…I have some sort of a disease running in me. My personality and the way I react changes once the sun sets…”

“In other words, two sided,” mumbled Runa, finishing her tea, “You have a split personality.”

“That could be another way of putting it.”

Eir cleared her throat. “But why find Ikol in the morning instead of last night when we had the chance?”

“You could’ve searched for him last night,” the elf responded, noticing their hard angry glare, “But you’d be doing it without me, which you would’ve then failed in saving him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m useless at night…” Falila’s smile faded, “And the risk of saving Ikol when everyone is awake in the morning is pretty high too, but it’s the only time I can help…”

“And what’s with the introduction?” Runa scowled at her, “You nearly killed us both!”

“It was only for fun…”

“I want the truth!”

The two stared at each other; though Runa is more likely glaring while Falila gazed at her calmly. The elf then stood from her seat and walked towards the cage, grabbing the glowing dove and holding onto it tightly, caressing it.

Eir stood up after her. “Falila…?”

“To get to you first before Aaron does,” she slowly answered, “Though I failed since Ikol is still in Aaron’s hands as we speak…”

Runa’s eyes widened. “What do you mean still?!”

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From lack of sleep and having not eaten anything to fill his hungry stomach, Ikol wouldn’t allow himself to be bothered by them considering the slow rising fear which was filling him up quite quickly and easily. It was already morning as the forest seemed to glow so purely once the light of the sun shined on it like some holy forest, now noticing many sets of eyes from the awakening elves still inside their homes. It seemed as if all of them noticed the event of who he might be since he was still laying in a most uncomfortable position with Aaron beside him; none of them would dare arrive unless their leader said so.

“It shouldn’t take Lord Freyr all night to come here,” Aaron absentmindedly whispered, playing with the string again.

Ikol couldn’t help speaking. “Your tone doesn’t seem convinced that he will come.”

“So now you noticed?” Aaron chuckled falsely, letting the glowing string dance around his small fingers, aware of Ikol’s surprised stare, “Falila once said I’m really easy to figure out…I didn’t think it would take you the whole night though…”

“What are you saying?”

“I thought she would confront me last night…” Aqua eyes hidden, he clutched onto the string hard. “So I sat here waiting to hear her reasons…but she never came…she doesn’t want to face me…”

Ikol looked around. “You mean she was here the whole night?”

“She left a moment ago…with my message to Lord Freyr in her hand…”

His eyes widened in bewilderment, seeing Aaron standing up to his feet, his hand raised in a gesture for the other elves to not interfere. All the elves immediately disappeared into the darkness of their homes, not allowing them to hear anymore sounds that would be present. For the first time, Ikol could now analyze his appearance. Though looking like a child from the outside with a cute personality, his eyes alone, so powerful and wise, were enough to surpass it all.

That was the moment that Ikol felt respect and fear from him, wanting to crawl somewhere and hide. If he were to act like his age, Ikol would’ve had difficulty on who was the scariest between him and Runa. Ikol’s eyes ticked at the thought, immediately voting for Runa since he doesn’t believe Aaron would be cruel enough to grab him by the ankles and drag him through the mud, regardless of rocks and sending him unconscious like what she had done before.

Definitely Runa, he sighed, glancing up when, speak of the devil, she was now standing right in front of them. “RUNA?!”

“…Hehehe…hahahaha….” Ikol cringed at her evil chuckle, wondering what she was doing in the middle of a situation like this before feeling his skin crawl at the following laughter. “BWAHAHAHA!”

Even Aaron looked surprised, though he wasn’t fazed at all when a sudden power of water was thrown at him. The invisible ribbon that was wrapped around Ikol suddenly released him as it glowed, recoiling against the water orb and disintegrating. His long ponytail flew from the blowing force with gentle water splashing over his shoulders, the results on what had happened to the attack.

Ikol inhaled a sharp breath, feeling the water splattering onto him until suddenly noticing it forming into many small orbs of magic with the elf’s back facing them. He glanced at the smirking Runa and couldn’t help but cry out, “AARON!”

But he was too late; the shots came thick, extremely powerful, and impossible to avoid, all shooting in every direction possible at the elf until an explosion sent Ikol uncontrollably flying in midair. Feeling himself falling towards the ground, his body tightened when thinking he had landed but instead, a pair of delicate arms wrapped around him, both falling flat to the hard floor – though Ikol was on top of whoever had saved him.

He groaned while sitting up, cracking his eyes open before they widened in disbelief. “EIR?!”

“Heavy…” She managed to squeak, hearing her bones crack when he helped her stand up.

“And here I thought I lost a few pounds from doing nothing but running and getting captured,” Ikol snickered, following her directions when she lead him inside the forest towards where he could see another elf waiting, sitting on one of the branches above them.

Falila looked down at him. “I suppose the plan succeeded…I knew a seid like her had the strength to exceed over Aaron’s.”

“Aaron…” Ikol looked over at the opening where the dust was still clearing from the explosion worriedly.

Eir did a small twist to replace her bone structure back where it belonged so she could walk normally, raising an eyebrow. “Why are you worried for him? You actually called his name for a warning too when Runa attacked.”

“He’s not what you think!”

“Of course he’s not,” Falila spoke lowly, watching the scene, “If things get out of hand, we will have to leave as soon as possible. Odin will probably be able to see this from his High Chair in Asgard…if he does, then things will get ugly from there.”

“And who are you?”

“A person who betrayed her own kind…” she whispered, still caressing the dove in her hand. Ikol was able to get a small glance at it and stared, remembering Aaron’s words. Is she…Falila…?

“Falila!” Eir shouted, confirming his thoughts, “When are we going to leave? It’s a good time now!”

“If you want to leave then you can,” she smiled, eyes closed, “But leaving Alfheim is not possible unless the Leader of the Elves gives you permission…he’s the key to the door out of Alfheim…”

“So Runa…?”

“Will have to kill him if he disagrees; that is the only other way, but the door will forever be opened if that happens…it’s our only chance though.”

Hearing such words come so easily out of her mouth, Ikol felt his blood running to a torrid temperature. “How can you say that about him?!”

Falila looked at him silently.

“Do you know how much you mean to him?!”

“Ah…so you two talked about me…”

Eir blinked in surprise. “Ikol! Don’t have to be so angry!”

“I’ll be damned if I’m not angry!” Ikol was now hollering, glaring angrily at the elf, “To my knowledge, any person would’ve gone insane by now! But YOU! You’re making my anger go up to the top!” He pointed up at Falila. “Aaron had been joking with me all along, saying whoever this Lord Freyr is was coming for me when he knew you had the message in that dove you’re holding! Yet, instead of catching you, he’s allowing himself to wait for YOU to come to him all night and explain your situation!”

The fingers around the dove slightly tightened, her dark lilac eyes looking away from theirs to gaze at the still blowing dust ahead.

“Don’t you feel any shame?!”

“No…because you are wrong…” All his anger scattered to pieces so easily from such disbelief at her reply, even Eir felt a bit uneasy by her blunt answer. “Didn’t he tell you anything about himself, Ikol…?”

Eir lowered her eyes, seeing a shaky tight fist at Ikol’s side, his knuckles turning completely white. She knew that the pain was distracting his thoughts, holding his tongue back so he wouldn’t be able to lash out with what he wanted to say to her.

“Aaron can’t have any feelings for anyone…It’s forbidden for the Leader of the Elves to have interaction with others in fear of his weakness, though some of the girls might still try. He was chosen once he was born not only to be the key to leave Alfheim…but to protect Alfheim as well for our Lord, Freyr…that is his task given by our Lord…”

“Then what about you…?”

Falila averted her gaze back at him.

“How do you feel about him…?”

“How do I feel?” she repeated, now seeing Aaron clearly once the dust cleared. Her eyes began to haze, still caressing the dove and muttering in a low tone, “I feel betrayed…and he knows that …”

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Runa waited there sluggishly, knowing with a grin that the plan had succeeded though she’s having a small bit of doubt on the plan Falila had given her. Capturing Aaron for one thing if he agrees to the plan so they can leave Alfheim was good, but killing him when he disagrees is something she’s not sure of doing. She’s stained her hands with the blood of a few trolls, dwarves, or even giants who were brainless enough to challenge her and get in her way, but an elf…

The dust had finally cleared and she noticed that the small elf was still standing there. The glowing ribbon of his magic was circling around him, but his clothing was the worse for wear, seeing it practically shredded from the attack with a few wounds. And still in his hand, she can see a small glowing string.

“Only a God or Goddess can have such powers to beat me…” Aaron mumbled, his ponytail loosening from its tie which flowed around him freely, “Lord Freyr hadn’t warned me that a Goddess would join the ‘Chosen One’ in searching for Loki…”

“Then I guess he hasn’t warned you about us escaping either?” Runa smirked, more orbs of water magic coming from the small spring beside her, created from her hands, “Will you agree to open the door of Alfheim for us to leave?”

Aaron ignored her; his eyes stared directly at the forest behind her.

Runa growled, now deciding that she really hated to be ignored, sending an attack as it blasted by Aaron’s feet to have his full attention, though he’s still not facing her. “I’m not asking you again! That’s my last warning!”

“Tell me the reason why Falila has helped you…?” Aaron suddenly asked, taking her by surprise, “Falila is the only one besides the other elves that know I’m the key of Alfheim…”

“Yeah, and she told me to kill you if I must,” Runa mumbled to herself, having a thought that he didn’t hear for they stood quite a large distance away but was taken aback at his next clear words.

“So she has, has she…?” A slow smile crept on his lips. “Then I’m going to have to disagree…”

The water orbs beside Runa swirled as they strengthened, her crystal eyes narrowed. “I’m going to admit, I hate doing this…but to leave Alfheim is our only chance for our escape before the others in Asgard arrive.”

“I suppose it is…” Aaron closed his eyes. “Even if I fight, I will still not win against you for your magic is way beyond mine. Not to mention they aren’t complete…”

“Complete…?”

“But I want to hear your answer…Why is Falila helping you…? Betraying the Lord…and betraying me…”

“Because she’s on our team.”

“By force…?”

“Not really.”

“And why are you helping Ikol…? There must be reason that she’s on your team.”

“WHY are you asking so many questions?!” Runa snapped, “If you’re so worried about Falila then ask the crazy elf yourself!”

Aaron stood there, the string in his hand continuing to glow brighter than usual. “She doesn’t want to see me…because I have done the most forbidden thing the Leader of the Elves could do if he wants to protect Alfheim…”

She slowly lowered her hand down.

“Did she tell you she felt betrayed? That is why my past friendship with her ended so easily.” Aaron’s eyes glowed as the pure white ribbon that was flowing around him brightened to the point where it hurt to even look at it. “So she decided to betray our Lord by going with you…as I had betrayed him not so long ago for doing the forbidden…a forbidden that made Falila feel the way she’s feeling towards me…a forbidden that I will still continue for I will never regret my actions…”

Then the ribbon detonated as Runa cried out in surprise, blasting her own attacks that sent the explosion to the max, the force spreading through the thick trees though nothing was destroyed for the homes of the other elves stood strong.

Before Aaron could surrender to the blackness, feeling his skin burn as his mind slowly went blank, he was able to see a glimpse of Falila through the blinding white explosion, her fingers playing with the wooden flute. It was only the song that echoed through his mind, forcing him to lift his hand despite the biting pain where the glowing string was tightly inside his fist. Falila…

Her eyes lowered to his fist and closed them. But that alone was the only expression he needed to see and was able to drown in the sea of darkness with no regrets…

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